Stripping for Jesus. Following her flaunted
love-affair, Anne is hated by the religious groups and the American conservative elements.
But she has another reason to be worried by the reverend Falwell's aggressiveness,
the most irritated representative of the ultra-conservatives elements. Always interested in
religion, after shooting Volcano, she wrote, directed and starred in
short film entitled " Striptease for Jesus ". She tells the story of a stripper who
writes Bible scriptures on her body before taking the stage hoping to reach her
clients with "a language they can understand." Heche plays the stripper's sister,
who kills for Jesus in order to redeem herself in the eyes of God.
"Both sisters end up completely alone in
their own fucking hell, which is the whole point — religion doesn't solve anything." Anne says
On her impetus... However it seem like 1998 is a good year. The 3
films she made the previous year are released ("Donnie Brasco ", " Wag the dog ",
" Volcano ".) Combined, they grossed more than $172 million., for which we can add
$70 million for " 6 days, 7 nights ". That same year, she is chosen by People Magazine
as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. However during following years
the role offers became scarce. Then, Anne decide to direct et write movies.
In 1999 she directs the shooting of the TV-series " If these walls could speak 2 ".
She had participite as an actress in the first installment of the series.
In this second installment, based on the lives of Anne and Hellen, Sharon Stone
plays Heche. That year, Anne also directed a small film entitled " reaching Normal "
"I'd certainly be lying if I said my work hadn't changed. It's safe to say fewer scripts
came my way. But it opened up so many doors. I got to direct and write two movies.
If my career had gone the way I thought it would, I wouldn't have done these things for
another 10 or 20 years. I feel I've been fortunate to create a very interesting balance
in my career."
Bowfinger. Furthermore, in 1999, is the first release of "Bowfinger", the movie
produce by Steve Martin, Anne's former date, in which a character, an ambitious actress,
seem to be close to Anne. Martin will deny any link between the character an Anne Heche.
The break-up. In August of 2000 comes a piece of news which surprises more than a few in Hollywood.
Anne and Ellen has split up. In a joint declaration they precise that they have
decided to finished their relationship but remain friendly.
Events of Fresno. A few days later the break-up,
a new sensational development: Actress Anne Heche was hospitalized after wandering up
to a rural home near Fresno, California, appearing shaken and confused. She made strange statements to the
occupants of a house where she knocked on the front door.
Initial reports had suggested she was exhibiting signs similar to an overdose of
ecstasy. However, a few days later, she goes to Toronto, to start shooting the
film " John Q " where she plays a hospital administrator who refuses to give a heart
transplant to an uninsured young boy. The boy's father, played by Denzel Washington,
then takes the emergency room hostage. She was impatiently expected on her arrival in
Toronto, where she was looking dazed and tired. The producer working with her
given some precise details on the events of Fresno. He declared that the actress
got sunburned while she was driving in her convertible.
"Her back and shoulders look
like a tomato" he specified.
Conjectures. During this time, the press makes conjectures about the
reasons for the break-up between Anne and Ellen. Each give its assumption.
The New York Post and the New York Daily news think that Anne Heche would not be
homosexual any more and would be become again heterosexual, while Post launches the
assumption of a love-affaire with Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche’s co-star in
" Psycho " and " Return to paradise " which she shot after " 6 days, 7 nights ".
Daily news incline for a love-affaire with somebody from the cast of "John Q" but
excluding the co-stars of film, Denzel Washington and Robert Duvall. The Daily news
considers that this reversal of situation is a publicity stunt by Heche in order
to rise in the boxoffice, but the same kind of matter was already held when the two
actresses had revealed their love affair. In September , Anne makes her first public
appearance since the breaking up. She went to a ceremony in Beverly Hills Hilton where
she received a Lucy award from "Women In Film" for her work developing and directing
a segment of the HBO movie "If These Walls Could Talk II,". Hellen, who
co-starred with Sharon Stone and was the co-producer, was absent from the ceremony.
Anne, who seems very disturbed , is suddenly tongue-tied and unable to say
DeGeneres' name.
Ally McBeal. A little later she will announce than she obtained a role in the
TV-series " Ally McBeal " and she has a book project in preparation, an
autobiography. 2001 was also going to bring a lot of surprises. Anne is
initially seen in a store in Beverly Hill looking at wedding dresses.
The rumors are spreading. Heche's manager, Lauren Lloyd, subsequently called to
confirm that her 32-year-old client did not enter the store's bridal salon on a
whim.
"No date has been set yet," said Lloyd. "But she's definitely getting married."
Been engaged? The prospective groom is cameraman
Coley Laffoon. The couple met last
summer while Heche, then still with DeGeneres, was making a documentary about her.
She and the cameraman fell in love. . By making things official with Laffoon, Heche
can now describe her time with DeGeneres as an experimental phase.
At the moment, though, she's leaving the public statements to Lloyd.
"She's engaged, and she's wearing a ring," said Lloyd.
"And she's happy."
The wedding. In fact, on September 1, 2001 the wedding is celebrated in the
neighbourhood of Los Angeles, with 75 friends and family members. At 32, Anne,
can now think serenely about her work. In addition to several full-length films
to come, she works on a TV-series project developed by Warner.
We will later learn that she is three months pregnant by her husband. However the most
surprising is yet to come.